After the Goodbyes
by ajbags97
Summary: After Rose and Albus and all the other children say goodbye to their parents at Kings Cross Station, they begin their marvelous journey at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
1. Chapter 1: First Encounters

Chapter 1-

First Encounters

Rose Weasley was extremely excited for her first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; she couldn't even hold it in. All Rose could do was babble on and on to her cousin Albus Potter as they made there way down the train corridor.

"And the library! Oh, I can just not wait for term to begin. I think I am most excited for History of Magic. I know I know," Rose said as she saw the look of confusion on her cousin's face, "but I think it will be fascinating to see what they saw about my parents and your dad and all that Voldemort business. Don't you? Well I do and I can't wait to be sorted even though it's pretty obvious what houses we'll be in"

"What do you mean?" Albus asked finally being able to squeeze in a few words.

"What I mean is, look at both of our families; the whole lot of them have been in Gryffindor so that only makes us bound to be in Gryffindor too."

"That doesn't decide anything. Dad said that the Sorting Hat places you in your house according to you, not your ancestry.

Rose opened her mouth to argue but couldn't find the words. Instead she thought about what Albus had said. She had been counting on being sorted into Gryffindor because there has never been a Weasley that wasn't a Gryffindor. This thought actually started to scare her. What if she wasn't in Gryffindor after all? Would she be placed in Slytherin? Rose didn't know the qualities of a Slytherin, but her father had said that Slytherins were scrawny little gits that depend on others to keep them safe.

Albus must of seen the look on her face because he nudged her and said, "Don't worry, my dad hinted that you could tell the Sorting Hat what house you wanted to be in and he'll take it into consideration."

This made Rose calm down a tad. She was still thinking about the four Hogwarts houses as her and Albus reached the end of the train. All the previous compartments on the train had been full of pupils. It seemed that Hogwarts was getting more and more students each year. 'Probably because parents didn't have to worry about their kids safety as much as before the great defeat of Lord Voldemort' Rose reasoned to herself.

The last compartment was smaller than most on the train and it contained a single student who looked to be her age. He had blonde hair and was sitting straight up staring out the window.

Rose looked at her cousin and shook her head. "No!" she whispered to him.

"We've got to! It's the only compartment left on the train," argued Albus.

"Do you know who's in there? We can't be seen with him! I'm not going in there!"

"Where do expect to sit then?" Albus asked Rose.

"I don't know. We can sit with James."

No. We're sitting here," with that said, Albus opened the compartment door and pushed a very reluctant Rose through it.

Albus and Rose both stumbled in quite ungracefully and with a long series of bangs and clatters. This entrance could most defiantly not be ignored and the small boy looked up at the pair.

He studied them hard, taking in every aspect of their appearance. From the red hair of one to the black hair of the other. From the girls stylish shoes to the boys sneakers. There was no denying who these two were but the boy pretended not to know. He just simply turned back to the window.

Rose and Albus sat down across from the boy. They had both heard from their parents about the boys fathers encounters with them and the both thought that they were supposed to hate the boy.

Rose flicked her hair over her shoulder and stared at her shoes. She blocked out all other noises and tried to concentrate on her first term at school. She could faintly hear Albus trying to make conversation with the boy and she didn't think that she heard the boy say anything back.

For most of the train ride, the compartment was silent. They had pulled on their robes when they were halfway to Hogsmede station. When the train was stationed at Hogsmede station, the blonde boy was the first to leave the small compartment.

Rose and Albus meandered off the train only to the platform packed with students. The majority of them were making their ways to the carriges. Rose could hear a faint voice calling all the first years. She and Albus followed the voice to the side of the lake. Across the sparkling water, Rose could see the outline of the magnificent Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.


	2. Chapter 2: Predictable Sortings

**This is my first fanfiction story so of course I had never had reviews before now and I just wanted to thank my reviewers because you made me so good about myself and it really encouarged me to keep writing this stroy. After I read the reviews I felt wonderful and was literally jumping with glee. It's one thing to hear about your writing from your teachers and friends, but to hear about it from someone that doesn't even know you is just the most wonderful feeling in the world to me. Thank you again for your reviews (even though there aren't that many).**

**I apologize for spelling and grammar and I also apologize because I believe that this wasn't one of my better chapters (writers block), but I do beleive that it has wonderful imagery.**

**Special thanks to SophiaofSlytherin for your tips, I really tried to take them into consideration when writing this chapter.**

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Chapter 2-

Predictable Sortings

Rose climbed into a small boat with Albus, a small, round boy who introduced himself as Frank Longbottom, and a petite girl with long black hair. Rose figured she was the daughter of Cho Chang who she had heard plenty of stories about.

All Rose could do was stare at the beautiful site. She had seen pictures, done research, read everything about Hogwarts, but she never imagined the castle to be this beautiful. The way that the castle's reflection looked in the lake. The way that the lights from what she thought to be the Great Hall spilled out of the windows. The full moon in the sky reflected off the lake and lit up the rest of the castle and gave it that spooky feel.

All too soon the first years reached the boat house and they climbed out of the small boats one at a time.

As they made their ways up to the castle, Rose took another advantage to soak in the rest of the castle's appearance against the dark sky. She could just make out the outline of the three tallest towers, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and the Astronomy Tower. Rose turned her head to look back at the lake, but continued to walk forward. She could see smoke in the air from the Hogsmede stores. Rose continued to walk with her head turned until she smacked into something hard. She hit the object with so much force that she was knocked backwards right onto her backside. She had hit her head and for a moment, all she could see was white. Slowly her vision came back to her.

"Nice job," came a sarcastic voice behind her. Rose turned to see who was talking to her so rudely and she saw none other than the boy that so resembled his father. His pointed and pale face and bleach blonde hair made him look like his father in miniature. On either side of him stood two very large boys with dull expressions on their faces. The one on the left stood with his arms crossed staring up at the pale faced boy in admiration. He was rather short and had jet black hair like Roses two cousins, James and Albus. Unlike James and Albus though, he was round in the middle looked as though he had never taken a shower. The other boy was the opposite. He towered over Rose and was so skinny that Rose wouldn't be surprised if she could pick him up and ride him as a broomstick.

Albus rushed to Roses side and helped her up. As she turned to the three boys about to give them a piece of her mind, the doors to the castle swung open. In the doorway was the silhouette of a tall and stringy frame of a man. He was thin and weakly built but he had a presence about him that brought a hushing silence over the chatting crowd.

"I am Professor Nott," he said in a deep voice that seemed to echo off the sides of the castle, "I teach Potions and I am also the Head of Slytherin House."

As Nott went on about the four houses and the sorting ceremony, Rose's mind wandered off. She had heard the name _Nott_ before, but she couldn't think of where. The man standing in front of her shifted a little and now there was light from the Great Hall behind him shining on his face. He had hair like her Uncle Harry's that couldn't be tamed, but he had a soft expression on that was over powered by his deep and commanding voice. The more Rose studied the man, the more she knew that she had heard his name before.

"Rose!"

"What," Rose said annoyed that whoever was speaking to her had shaken her out of her thoughts.

"We're going inside," Albus said gesturing her forward.

Rose looked around and saw that she and Albus were the only ones still outside. Quickly she ran inside and followed the crowd of first years into the Great Hall. As soon as she had walked through the doors of the Great Hall, she wanted to turn back. Every eye in the room was on the 11 year-olds moving towards the front of the room. There were four long tables that the students were sitting at and then there was the staff table that sat at the front of the room which was where the Sorting Hat was sitting atop a tall wooden stool.

When all the first years were gathered in front of the stool that the Sorting Hat sat upon, it burst into song:

"_I may be old but that does not mean_

_That you know more than me_

_For I know everything there is_

_Just try me on and see_

_Do you like learning everything you can_

_And believe that wisdom is treasure_

_Than I'll sort you into Ravenclaw _

_And it will be my pleasure_

_Or maybe you're like Hufflepuff herself_

_And you are loyal, just, and true_

_So off you go now_

_Because Hufflepuff is for you_

_Maybe you're a Slytherin_

_And your ancestry is pure_

_Now if you're cunning and ambitious_

_Then you're a Slytherin for sure_

_If you are daring and you've got nerve_

_And you're brave beyond the rest_

_Then Gryffindor is where you belong_

_And we'll put you to the test_

_So now I've told you everything_

_Just try me on and wait_

_And when the sorting is complete_

_Then we can initiate"_

The hall was silent for a few moments before bursting into applause. Rose clapped along with the rest of the hall as the hat bowed and Professor Nott walked up to the stool.

"Now, when I call your name, you will walk up here and I'll place the hat on your head. The Sorting Hat will determine which house you will be in and then you will walk to join your classmates at your house table," he explained. Then he held up the long roll of parchment containing the names of all the first years.

Rose was starting to get nervous. Before now she had been completely calm and confident that she was going to be in Gryffindor but now she wasn't feeling so confident. The sorting hat had said that if you love to learn that you would be in Ravenclaw. Rose loved to learn; did that mean that she would be in Ravenclaw? She also believed that she was loyal and true which were the qualities of a Hufflepuff. To be a Gryffindor, you had to be brave at heart, and right now, Rose wasn't feeling so brave.

"Angel, Meghan," Nott yelled out to the hall and a small girl with short frizzy black hair stood up and calmly walked toward the stool. The hat sat on her head for a few moments before screaming out, "GRYFFINDOR!"

"Lucky," Rose mumbled miserably to her self.

"What was that Rose?" asked Albus with a hint of concern in his voice. He always acted like a brother to Rose. Rose ignored him though and turned her attention back to the sorting ceremony.

After Howard Belby became a Ravenclaw, Peter Bletchley was called up to the stool. Up walked the short boy that was standing with the pointed pale faced boy when Rose had walked into the wall. When Bletchley reached the stool and the hat was placed upon him, only a few moments passed before the hat screamed out, "SLYTHERIN!" Bletchley jumped off the stool with glee and wobbled down to the Slytherin table.

"Bones"… "Boot"… "Cauldwell"… "Chambers"… "Corner"… "Creevey"… And on and on the list went until someone interesting finally got called. When Nott called Bennett Foster, the other boy that was with Bletchley and the pointed faced boy walked up to the stool, Rose stood up a little straighter and she could tell that Albus did too. The tall and skinny boy walked up to the stool. The moment that the hat touched his head it had yelled, "SLYTHERIN!" and the boy walked calmly to the cheering table.

More and more people were called up to the hat and the horde of first years was lessening. Rose was starting to get anxious and she was practically jumping up and down. She let her mind wander back to what it was like to see the castle for the first time. With the lights and the lake, it almost didn't seem really; it was like one of the fairy tale that her mother used to read to her. Roses mother would often read the wizard fairy tales to Rose when she was young, but occasionally she would read the muggle ones, because those were the fairy tales that she grew up with.

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

This name snapped Rose out of her memory and back to the ceremony. When the name was called, silence washed over the crowd and the boy with the pointed pale face and bleach blonde hair walked up to the stool. The hat was placed upon his head and it sat there. For what seemed like hours. The hat sat on Scorpius Malfoys head. Occasionaly Malfoy would shake or nod his head to something that the hat would say into his ear. Finally the hat had yelled out to the hall, "SLYTHERIN!"

'So predictable' Rose thought to herself. And for a second she had actually thought that Scorpius might have been different from his father just because the hat was on his head for ages? Ridiculous.

"Potter, Albus," Nott read off the parchment. Albus gave me a look of fear and then made his way up to the stool. I smiled at him before the hat was placed on his head and slid down to cover his eyes. The Hat wasn't on his head for very long before it screamed, "GRYFFINDOR!" Albus took off the hat and practically ran to the far left table. He looked back at Rose while he was sitting down along side the rest of the Gryffindors and she gave him a quick thumbs up.

A few more names were called and there were only four students left; Rose, a girl and two boys. After Broderick Stretton was sorted into Ravenclaw, Professor Nott called out, "Weasley, Rose."

Shaking slightly Rose walked up to the stool on which the hat was placed. As Nott lifted up the hat, Rose sat down on the stool and turned to face the rest of the school. The last thing that she saw before the itchy hat slipped over her hazel eyes was the friendly look on her cousin's face. He gave her a thumbs up and then the hat slid over her eyes and everything was black.

"_Here we go again," _a small voice said in her ear,_ "Hogwarts has got herself another Weasley to hold within her walls. Tell me, are you a trouble maker like your and cousins, James and Fred?" _Before Rose could answer, the hat answered for her, as though reading her mind. _"No? Hmm, interesting. Are you a smart mouth like your father? No? Interesting, interesting. Let's see. Brains. You've got brains and lots of them. You would succeed in Ravenclaw very nicely." _Rose knew that was it, she was going to be placed in Ravenclaw and her father would disinherit her. _"Oh wait! Do I sense that you do not wish to be in Ravenclaw? Interesting, interesting." _Rose suddenly thought of something. 'Excuse me' she thought. _"Yes?" _Rose took a deep breath and continued, 'If you don't mind, I would really like to be sorted into Gryffindor' "_I see. Well it is not often that I get requests. Students often fear to do this which shows that you do have nerve. Now let me see. I see bravery beyond the average 11 year-old and you amaze me with your potential. I guess it better be, _GRYFFINDOR!"

The hat was lifted off her head and she could see the Great Hall once again. The table on the far left had exploded into cheers. Cheering loudest of them all was her cousin and best friend, Albus Potter. She saw that he had saved her a seat next to him and she gladly took it.


End file.
